Tim: The Story of Timothy H. O’Sullivan as a Young Apprentice at Mathew Brady’s Studio

Willy Wonka meets Gangs of New York and Let the Great World Spin

The Story Begins on September 11th, 1850…

Based on the life of Timothy O’Sullivan, Tim is a ten-year-old boy from sleepy Staten Island who is told he must apprentice at Mathew Brady’s daguerreotype studio in 1850.

Tim takes the ferry over to York with his father and rides the omnibus up Broadway to Fulton Street. Across from Brady’s Gallery is Barnum’s American Museum filled with all its relics and wondrous curiosities. As Tim ventures inside, he takes us back into New York’s forgotten past and the history of photography.

The story begins on September 11th, 1850, with Jenny Lind’s premiere concert at Castle Garden near Battery Park — a night that would be remembered for years to come, as the night when the Swedish Nightingale first sang in New York.

All the city is infatuated with Jenny Lind. Great crowds surround her wherever she goes. She is the most sought-after celebrity by all the Broadway photographers, except that her manager, none other than P.T. Barnum himself, will not grant Brady access to Jenny Lind.

But Brady shall not be thwarted, not with his observant young assistant, Tim…

Book Review on Amazon.com

by Grady Harp

Author Daniel A. Sheridan studied photojournalism and the history of photography at New York University and served as a darkroom technician at The Photography Workshop, as editor and photographer at Low-RANGE magazine, and as a drummer in the band The Immigrants.

TIM is his debut novel – and who better to write this book than Daniel?! For those unfamiliar, Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840 – 1882) was a photographer widely known for his photographs of the US Civil War and the American West.

Bringing to our attention the special gifts of the often-overlooked Timothy H. O’Sullivan, the apprentice to the famous photographer Matthew Brady, this immensely entertaining novel recreates the mid-nineteenth century and an important overview of the history of photography.

The interaction between Tim and Brady is beautifully rendered, offering insights into the development from daguerreotype to photograph – or in Brady’s advice to Tim, ‘The war over photography… The French process versus the English process. We must choose our allies carefully and know our enemy. You see, we’ve been working with the daguerreotype process for these last ten years…’

By inserting his own progress in photography alongside Tim’s progress, Daniel makes this book ring true and even more accessible in honoring the art and history of photography. This is a fascinating and beautifully written book – one that deserves a very wide audience. Highly recommended.